Dark Seldarine
The Dark Seldarine, the pantheon of the Drow, was "led" by Lolth, the Spider Queen, in the sense that she is was most powerful and widely worshiped Drow deity. She dominated the Drow race's lives and urged them into heavy infighting. She was opposed to varying degrees by the rest of the pantheon and did not share her power with other gods.
Vhaeraun, her son, was among the opposers. He had the largest following on the surface and the second largest overall among the Dark Seldarine. Lolth considered him her real rival and enemy. The others were minor players.
In truth, the Dark Seldarine were a pantheon only in a loose sense as most Drow gods did not allow their followers to give any reverence to other deities; rather, they were simply a collection of gods, some related to each other and some not, whose followers were primarily Drow, and thus they were bitter rivals as they clashed over the hearts and minds of the Drow.
Lolth's domination over the majority of Drow was to such an extent that even information on the other gods was not readily accessible to them. Vhaeraun's existence and agenda was only common knowledge among surface Drow and in those parts of the Underdark where the Spider Queen's power was not absolute. Eilistraee, Lolth's daughter and the only benevolent Drow deity, was both on the surface and in the Underdark the subject of wildly inaccurate and wrong legends.
Most of the rare few who knew of Kiaransalee believed her to be an undead madwoman who was a goddess only in her fantasies, while Selvetarm was practically forgotten.Only Ghaunadaur was capable of making his presence known or at least felt on some level by most Drow. But all that changed, in the year 956 AB, during the Crisis of the Anskolian Empire, the Dark Seldarine had a lot of freedom after the creature of the underdark surfaced. The Pantheon flourished and Lolth began to hatch a plan to destroy Elistraee, her daughter. This war happened when the forces of good couldn't help the doomed goddess and she through ritual, Elistraee name was erased from memory Then, there were large uprising in all the Drow communities. The Weakened goddess after the fall of the army of dark that was sent by Ghaundaur was destroyed and weakened after Lolth tried to kill him and failed. The Dark Seldarine, ever deceitful, fought Lolth as well, and a new order came to be in the Drow communities. While Lolth faith is still dominate, Vhaeraun faith could be openly worshipped in the open in Drow cities of Lolth, as long as they pay their respect to Lolth. Selvetarm faith became stronger as he become Menmor, the Giant deity and gained a number of followers, aloowing him to become the god of slaughter ever more and he became relevant before each battles that even Lolth recognized Selvetarm faith importance before each battle, but only for the warriors and the mental control. A group of heroes, known as the "The Forest Cleaners", went through Orc hordes and the terrible warlord of the desert. There, they found an artifact of unimaginable power that allowed the Adventuring party to wage war upon the Drow and restored Elistraee name back to living memory in the year 970 AB. Then, the Party disbanded for the Leaders of the party couldn’t convince the others to help them restore Elistraee Faith. The Fraction in the Drow communities allowed many Dark elves to have an escape out of the evil mechanism of Evil and they formed Drow Communities both underground and above ground in the lands of @Zirnykali. The True power of the Dark Seldarine was still in the hand of Lolth, which weakened Ghaundaur and a unity came, that allowed Lolth to further expand, even upon the surface in A'shiraf'sir. Ghaunadaur, became disaffected after the ascension of the rest of the Drow Deities and he lost most of his power. There are a lot of Drow still uncontent with the Dark Seldarine and as such, he left the Demonweb Pits, but is still considered a part of the Pantheon. Members
Most of the rare few who knew of Kiaransalee believed her to be an undead madwoman who was a goddess only in her fantasies, while Selvetarm was practically forgotten.Only Ghaunadaur was capable of making his presence known or at least felt on some level by most Drow. But all that changed, in the year 956 AB, during the Crisis of the Anskolian Empire, the Dark Seldarine had a lot of freedom after the creature of the underdark surfaced. The Pantheon flourished and Lolth began to hatch a plan to destroy Elistraee, her daughter. This war happened when the forces of good couldn't help the doomed goddess and she through ritual, Elistraee name was erased from memory Then, there were large uprising in all the Drow communities. The Weakened goddess after the fall of the army of dark that was sent by Ghaundaur was destroyed and weakened after Lolth tried to kill him and failed. The Dark Seldarine, ever deceitful, fought Lolth as well, and a new order came to be in the Drow communities. While Lolth faith is still dominate, Vhaeraun faith could be openly worshipped in the open in Drow cities of Lolth, as long as they pay their respect to Lolth. Selvetarm faith became stronger as he become Menmor, the Giant deity and gained a number of followers, aloowing him to become the god of slaughter ever more and he became relevant before each battles that even Lolth recognized Selvetarm faith importance before each battle, but only for the warriors and the mental control. A group of heroes, known as the "The Forest Cleaners", went through Orc hordes and the terrible warlord of the desert. There, they found an artifact of unimaginable power that allowed the Adventuring party to wage war upon the Drow and restored Elistraee name back to living memory in the year 970 AB. Then, the Party disbanded for the Leaders of the party couldn’t convince the others to help them restore Elistraee Faith. The Fraction in the Drow communities allowed many Dark elves to have an escape out of the evil mechanism of Evil and they formed Drow Communities both underground and above ground in the lands of @Zirnykali. The True power of the Dark Seldarine was still in the hand of Lolth, which weakened Ghaundaur and a unity came, that allowed Lolth to further expand, even upon the surface in A'shiraf'sir. Ghaunadaur, became disaffected after the ascension of the rest of the Drow Deities and he lost most of his power. There are a lot of Drow still uncontent with the Dark Seldarine and as such, he left the Demonweb Pits, but is still considered a part of the Pantheon. Members
- Lolth (formerly Araushnee): Goddess of assassins, chaos, darkness, Drow, evil and spiders.
- Eilistraee: Goddess of beauty, dance, song, freedom, moonlight, swordwork, and hunting.
- Ghaunadaur: God of all things subterranean, jellies, oozes, outcasts, rebels, ropers and slimes.
- Kiaransalee: Goddess of undead, necromancy, and vengeance.
- Selvetarm: God of Drow warriors, slaughter, Psionics, Pride, Mental Prowess and Control
- Vhaeraun: God of Drow males, evil activity on the surface, territory, thievery, Flattery, Intoxication, Rumor, Opportunism and arrogance.
- Zinzerena: The goddess of assassination, illusion, and lie.
- Keptolo, The Eager Consort.
History
The Dark Seldarine is rather young as a pantheon. This had to do with the fact that the Drow, needed for the existence for a Drow pantheon, came into being only after Corellon's Descent, when the dark elves were cursed and turned into them in 10,721 BB.
Originally, Lolth (at the time known as Araushnee) and the twin deities born from her and Corellon Larethian—the elder, Vhaeraun, the younger Eilistraee — were dark elven gods and part of The Seldarine, residing in Arvandor. Ghaunadaur was a very ancient deity, according to Lolth far older than Ao, rumored to have emerged from the primordial ooze itself. In that age, it is worshiped by slimes and other crawling creatures, many of which had an alien intelligence. Kiaransalee was a dark elven lich from the world of Threnody. After being banished by her husband, the king of Threnody, for her experiment on Undeath, she managed to raise an army of undead and exact revenge upon the inhabitants of her former world, rendering it lifeless, she fled from the Seldarine's revenge into the Abyss, where she ascended to divinity as a demigodess.
The Era of Blood and Ruin
Originally, Lolth (at the time known as Araushnee) and the twin deities born from her and Corellon Larethian—the elder, Vhaeraun, the younger Eilistraee — were dark elven gods and part of The Seldarine, residing in Arvandor. Ghaunadaur was a very ancient deity, according to Lolth far older than Ao, rumored to have emerged from the primordial ooze itself. In that age, it is worshiped by slimes and other crawling creatures, many of which had an alien intelligence. Kiaransalee was a dark elven lich from the world of Threnody. After being banished by her husband, the king of Threnody, for her experiment on Undeath, she managed to raise an army of undead and exact revenge upon the inhabitants of her former world, rendering it lifeless, she fled from the Seldarine's revenge into the Abyss, where she ascended to divinity as a demigodess.
War of The Seldarine
In 12,000 BB, Araushnee, with the help of her son Vhaeraun, gathered a host of evil deities opposed to the Seldarine, and convinced them to attack Arvandor, in an attempt to overthrow Corellon. Ghaunadaur entered the fray on his own without being asked by anyone. She had planned for the assault to ultimately fail, as her actual goal was for his consort to be killed during the battle and to replace him as Coronal of Arvandor. She tricked Eilistraee into dangerously injuring her own father, but the Weaver's conspiracy was ultimately thwarted by Sehanine Moonbow, and Corellon's life was saved. After her betrayal was revealed, Araushnee was banished by Corellon and turned into a tanar'ri, while Vhaeraun was simply exiled. Even though she was cleared from all guilt, Eilistraee chose to share her mother's and brother's punishment, because she knew that the Drow would need her light in the times to come. The wizard Mordenkainen recorded a different version of this story. According to him, all elves, including the ones who would become the deities of the Seldarine and of the Dark Seldarine, emerged from the blood that Corellon lost in a fight against Gruumsh. Like their god, the first elves had shape-changing powers, and freedom with them. The Protector took some favorites, who were made deities: among them, Lolth was the most privileged. She saw that other races made something out of their lives, and made the argument that the elves should do the same by casting off their shape-changing powers in exchange of a fixed form, that would allow them to gain dominion over everything. Every single elf agreed and chose such a form, but Corellon was revolted by their decision and railed against Lolth. The god was stopped with the argument that nobody of his blood should be attacked, and, while he was thinking about it, Lolth used the opportunity to attempt to murder him. Realizing the extent of Lolth's betrayal, many elves intervened to stop her, but some remained loyal to the Spider Queen: the latter became the dark elves and their gods, and Lolth became a demon lord of the Abyss. Eilistraee was an exception in this version too, for she did not side with Lolth, but still chose to follow the dark elves.
by Ben Templesmith
Members of the Seldarine in this order from left to right: Vaheraun, Kiarasee, Selvetarm, Lolth, Ghaunadaur and Elistraee.
The Dark Seldarine
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Membership
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Notable Members
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